Chapter 45: Chapter-45

Elara looked at the items for a long moment.

On the surface, it was neat. Too neat.

“Walk me through their exact path,” she said.

The guard did, haltingly: how the assassins had slipped into her rooms through a servant door, how they’d fled when things went wrong, how they’d moved through lesser-used corridors, ending in that quiet stretch near Sera’s chambers before disappearing entirely.

“Did anyone see them?” Elara asked.

“No, Your Highness. Only the traces. The items. And… a faint residue of teleportation magic. Short-range.”

Convenient. Professional assassins leaving their guild badge like a calling card, dropping a piece of Sera’s cloak and using magic right where the trail pointed.

“Who knows about this?” Elara asked.

“The Emperor, the Captain of the Guard, and now you, Your Highness. Rumors are spreading that they escaped near the Second Princess’s quarters, but no one outside the inner circle has seen the evidence.”

She nodded slowly.

If Sera had truly sent them, she wouldn’t be foolish enough to let them leave tools and fabric behind in a tidy little pile pointing straight at her. And if she had been that foolish, they wouldn’t still be alive to try again.

Someone wanted her to look at Sera.

Someone wanted the Emperor to look at Sera.

“Has Princess Sera been questioned?” Elara asked.

“Not formally, Your Highness. There was… a conversation with His Majesty. We were not present.”

Of course not.

Elara stood. “You will leave those items here for now. Make a note in your report that I’ve been informed. Do not alter your official account. But if anyone asks what I said about the evidence, you may quote me exactly.”

The guards straightened. “Yes, Your Highness.”

She met the lead guard’s eyes. “The path and the story are too clean. Assassins of that caliber do not drop calling cards. Either they are suddenly incompetent, or someone wants us to think they came from the Second Princess. Until we know which it is, treat everything as suspect.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Understood, Your Highness.”

After they left, Elara stood alone with the “evidence.”

The Black Moth badge. The broken dart. The scrap of fabric.

If Sera was behind it, then the Second Princess was reckless and sloppy. If she wasn’t, then someone had just thrown her under a wagon in the most obvious way possible.

Either way, it meant one thing: there was at least one player in the palace willing to weaponize even the ’appearance’ of sister against sister.

And that was worse than not knowing anything at all.

She locked the items in a small chest, slid it into the bottom of one of her trunks, and wrote a single line in her notes:

’Someone thinks I’ll trust obvious answers.’

They were going to be disappointed.

***

The summons arrived an hour before sunset.

A liveried servant delivered it on a silver tray: a folded card bearing the imperial crest, ink still fresh.

’Princess Elara is requested to attend a formal family dinner in the Emperor’s private hall. Attendance mandatory.’

Requested. Mandatory. The usual imperial contradiction.

Elara read it twice, then set it down.

Of course. She’d signed merchant contracts, arranged passage, quietly stripped her rooms of anything important. Things were moving. That was exactly when the Emperor would want to see how she behaved in a room full of people who might like her dead.

“How formal is ’formal’?” she asked the fox knight.

“Very,” he said. “All princesses, key nobles, likely several foreign envoys. You’ll be expected to look unbothered.”

Unbothered. With fresh bandages under her sleeves and assassination evidence in her trunks.

She chose her clothes carefully. Not the most elaborate gown she owned, but not the plain traveling clothes either. A dark blue dress with clean lines, good fabric, minimal embroidery. Enough to remind everyone she was still a princess, not enough to look like she was trying too hard.

She added the imperial signet ring and a single piece of jewelry at her throat. No tiara. No glittering display. Just controlled, deliberate presence.

The walk to the private hall felt longer than usual. The fox knight shadowed her, a silent warning that she was not undefended. Guards at the doors announced her name in a clear voice.

“Her Highness, Princess Elara.”

Every head turned.

The Emperor sat at the head of the long table. To his right, Eleana in shining gold and white, looking perfectly composed. To his left, Sera in dusk-grey silk, expression placid and unreadable. Further down sat the other sisters, various nobles, a foreign envoy or two.

Elara stepped into the room as if she hadn’t fought for her life days ago.

She walked with steady steps, met no one’s gaze for too long, and bowed to the Emperor with exactly as much respect as protocol required—no more, no less.

“Father,” she said. “Thank you for the invitation.”

“Elara.” His eyes flicked briefly to her bandaged arm. “You look recovered.”

“Recovering,” she corrected calmly. “But fully capable of sharing a meal.”

A faint curve touched his mouth. Approval? Amusement? Hard to say.

“Take your seat,” he said. “Between Eleana and Sera.”

Of course.

She moved to her place, settling between the First Princess on her right and the Second on her left. Poison on one side, a potential scapegoat on the other.

“Nice dress,” Eleana murmured, not bothering to look at her. “Understated. Very ’I almost died but I’m being brave about it’.”

“Thank you,” Elara said evenly. “Yours says ’I definitely didn’t order an assassination this week, look how shiny I am.’”

Eleana’s fork paused over her plate for half a second, then continued like nothing had happened.

On Elara’s other side, Sera spoke without turning her head. “I heard the assassins escaped near my wing.”

“So did I,” Elara replied, keeping her voice neutral. “I also heard they left a trail so obvious it might as well have been arrows painted on the floor.”

Sera’s lips twitched, just barely. “Then we’ve both heard the same story.”

“Interesting story,” Elara said. “Almost too interesting.”

A wine glass clinked somewhere further down the table. Conversation rose and fell in pleasant waves. The Emperor chatted with an envoy about trade. Nobles laughed at something one of the younger sisters said.

On the surface, it was a normal dinner.

Underneath, it was anything but.

Eleana leaned closer, her voice soft enough not to carry. “Leaving so soon after such… excitement. People might get the impression you’re afraid.”

“People can think what they like,” Elara said. “Merchants will think I’m taking their partnership seriously. The rest don’t matter.”

“And the beast knights?” Eleana asked. “I heard you’re taking all of them with you. Interesting choice.”

News traveled fast.

“They serve my household,” Elara replied. “My household is relocating. Their duties go with it.”

“You do realize,” Eleana said lightly, “that leaving with all twenty-five beast knights will leave the palace a little… unbalanced?”

“I’m sure you can handle it,” Elara said. “You’ve never seemed short on sharp edges.”

Sera cut a piece of meat with careful precision. “Taking that many warriors on a merchant barge will make for tight quarters.”

“It will make for safe quarters,” Elara said. “Or as safe as anything gets lately.”

For a moment, all three sisters ate in silence.

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